Bonds FAQ

Which bonds are available for online trading?

A wide range of the most active and liquid government and corporate bonds in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as a limited number of Latin American bonds - in total more than 5000 bonds - are available for online bond trading. The availability of Latin American bonds and US corporate bonds is expected to be expanded in the near future.

What if a bond is not available to be traded online?

Saxo bank supports 33,000 bonds offline, so there is a good chance that it can be traded offline from our bond desk. Please contact Saxo Bank to enquire about the possibility of trading the specific bond offline. If so, it will be manually traded, but will still appear in the account summary of your account just like any other position.

What are the trading hours for online trading?

Bonds can be traded online 24/5 if the relevant underlying bond market is open. Trading hours will be limited to the daylight hours where liquidity in the relevant underlying bond market is best (i.e. European government bonds are open for trading in European hours).

Where and how does Saxo source liquidity for online trading bonds?

Bonds are primarily traded in the international OTC market and less frequently on exchanges. Saxo Bank thus utilises its counterparty network of more than 40 liquidity providers in the OTC market to source liquidity for online bond trading. For more information please see “How does a market order work?”

What is the maximum trade size?

There are maximum limits which are set according to normal liquidity conditions in the underlying bond markets. These limits differ from €1m or higher for corporate bonds and €25m or higher on government bonds.

What is the minimum trade size?

Bonds have different minimum trading sizes which can be as high as 50k, 100k or 200k in the relevant currency. You can see the minimum trading sizes and increment on each bond under account > Trading conditions as well as on the trade ticket. However, there are bonds which trade in lower sizes, which will also be available (a minimum limit of 10k in € or $ on all online bonds applies even if the underlying minimum trade unit for the bond is lower).

Can I trade at the price I see on the platform?

The price you will see on the platform for an online bond in the trade ticket is a live indicative price based on indicative OTC bond market prices. For this reason, actual trading prices may differ from this price. For more information please see “How does a market order work”. Furthermore, the price used in the account summary of your account is an indicative end-of-day price which may be different from actual trading prices as well as the price you will see in trade tickets.

How does a market order work?

Market order is the default order for bond trading. The market orders for bonds, unlike equities, are not executed on exchanges, but are routed to a global large pool of liquidity providers who execute the trade within seconds. The live indicative price will serve as the maximum limit price for the market order. If not executed within 45 seconds, the order will automatically be cancelled or killed. It is not possible to change the duration of the market orders.

What happens if an order gets killed?

If we do not receive a price which is better or at the maximum limit price (the live indicative price described above), the order will automatically be cancelled or killed. In this case, feel free to contact Saxo Bank to enquire about the possibility of trading the specific bond offline. The kill will take place after 30-45 seconds, depending on the specific bond market.

How does a limit order work?

When placing a limit order, it will automatically be routed to the most relevant of the available exchanges. Limit orders are typically used for placing orders outside or in the middle of a spread, or for a specific limit. Limit orders work only on an exchange and therefore there can be examples of no execution on any exchange due to lack of liquidity, while there is a possibility to fill a market order (where liquidity is not based on exchanges but the OTC bond market). It is possible to set the duration of a limit order.

Which bonds can you place limit orders for?

Limit orders only work for selected bonds that have sufficient liquidity on exchanges. For more information on the availability of limit orders on exchanges please contact us.

Are other order types available?

There are currently no other order types available for online bond trading. Are charts supported for bonds? Charts are currently not supported for online bond trading.

Can there be partial fills?

Both the limit order system and the market order system operate on the basis of an all-or-nothing framework, so that all orders are either filled 100% or not. Thus no partial fills are possible.

How are the orders handled?

The order handling is fully digitalised and with the use of robotics, the price discovery and execution is optimised for a superior client experience.

What are the costs of the trade?

Commissions for bond trading are as follows:

Market

Standard

Active*

European government bonds

0.20% (minimum 80 EUR)**

0.05% (minimum 50 EUR)**

US Government bonds***

0.20%

(minimum 80 EUR)**

0.05%

(minimum 50 EUR)**

European and UScorporate bonds

0.20% (minimum 80 EUR)**

0.10% ** (minimum 50 EUR)**

Emerging Markets bonds

0.20% (minimum 80 EUR)**

0.10% (minimum 50 EUR)**

*Please contact your account executive for more information. ** The equivalent if traded in another currency. *** For US government bonds there is an external price embedded execution fee for accessing this market. The fee is as follows from 0.000335% to 0.0004%.

Are there any other costs associated with bonds?

Apart from commissions on bond trades, bond positions are also subject to custody fees.

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